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Vicki Lawrence
Versatile Vicki Lawrence was born Victoria Ann Axelrad on March 26, 1949 in Inglewood, California. In school she did extremely well in dancing and singing and was also a cheerleader. While in her senior year of high school, Vicki sent Carol Burnett a letter that included, a local newspaper article talking about their likeness. Intrigued Burnett contacted Lawrence and eventually, offered her the role of her kid sister on her new variety series ‘The Carol Burnett Show'. The show premiered in1967 and the same year Vicki enrolled in UCLA to study Theater Arts. For more than a decade, Vicki remained with Carol and during that period, took home one Emmy Award and got nominated for another five Emmy Awards. After the successful stint in the ‘Burnett Show', Vicki got the opportunity to star in her own TV series ‘Mama's Family' with Ken Berry, Dorothy Lyman, Beverly Archer, and Allan Kayser. The highly successful show ended in 1990. She became a game show hostess and eventually, began hosting her own daytime talk show ‘Vicki'. She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in the Best Talk Show category in 1993 however; the show was canceled after two seasons.
Apart from being a good actor and hostess, Vicky is a singer too. She is widely known for the single ‘The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia', which was composed by her first husband Bobby Russell. The single released in November 1972 on Bell Records became a smash hit and topped the singles chart. Her next single ‘He Did with Me' although successful could not replicate the kind of success its predecessor had garnered.
Vicki has acted in several productions, like ‘Carousel', ‘Send Me No Flowers', ‘No, No, Nanette', ‘My Fat Friend', ‘Chapter Two', ‘Twigs', ‘Hello Dolly', ‘Special Occasions', ‘I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It ON The Road', ‘Annie Get Your Gun', and live from the Grand Ole Opry, ‘Nunsense 3: The Jamboree'. Vicky also tours the country with ‘Vicki Lawrence and Mama, A Two Woman Show'.
Discography
Albums
• The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia- 1973
• Ships in the Night- 1974
• Newborn Woman- 1979
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Vicki Lawrence, the Emmy Award-winning actress dons the hat of a comedian, singer and game show panelist as well. She is renowned for her co-starring role on ‘The Carol Burnett Show' along with Carol Burnett (1967 to 1978) and as sharp-tongued matriarch, Thelma Harper on ‘Mama's Family' (1983 to 1990).
